Apparel Online India Magazine July 1st Issue 2018 | Page 12

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H & M unveils Q2 results

Sweden-based fashion retailer H & M has unveiled financial results for the second quarter of this fiscal ended May 31, 2018. During the quarter under review, it reported 2 per cent increase in sales to SEK 60,464 mn as compared to the same period last year. Sales excluding the VAT reached SEK 51,983 mn( 51,383); however, it did not report any change in VAT in local currencies. As on May 31, 2018, H & M operated a total of 4,801 stores as compared to 4,498 stores in the corresponding period last year. The retailer will publish its six-month report covering the period from 1 December 2017 to 31 May 2018 this month, on June
28. By increasing its stores, the fashion retailer has been making its presence felt globally.
On the other hand, its rival Inditex reported increase in net profit to ¤ 668 million in the first quarter of this fiscal. It also reported positive growth in same store sales in all geographies, while H & M, the world’ s second-largest fashion retailer, struggled to get customers through its doors. Despite expansion globally, the Swedish clothing retailer tried to reduce a record level of inventory. The retailer in 2017, launched a review of its mix of stores and brands and has expanded its never brands.

Amazon India launches a unique programme to help sellers on its marketplace

Amazon India has announced to expand its Seller Lending Programme which the company launched in 2016. Amazon has set up its Lender Central in India, a
first of-its-kind in the world by the online retailer. This initiative will help the company’ s sellers to seek money lending offerings on Amazon’ s marketplace. At
present, Amazon has six listed lenders on its platform which are Capital First, Capital Float, Bank of Baroda, Aditya Birla Finance, Flexiloans, and Yes Bank. With the seller base going past three lakh, Lender Central will provide lenders with a mass audience. Reportedly, Amazon India has said that they are looking for lenders who can offer small ticket size loans which are below Rs. 2 lakh.“ We are looking for lenders who can offer loans between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh; also we are in search of those lenders who can lower the interest rate on loans from 12-14 per cent to 10 per cent,” said Gopal Pillai, GM & Director, Amazon Seller Services. Amazon India also claims to have reduced the time on loan disbursement
to just one day, whereas earlier, it used to take seven days till the time the money used to reach a seller. Furthermore, Pillai added that Amazon has a tried and tested algorithm that accurately predicts whether a seller will be able to repay the loan or not, which is calculated on the basis of an individual historical performance. Markedly, Amazon was launched in India back in 2013 with just hundreds of sellers but the global e-retailer now claims to have more than 3,40,000 sellers who are retailing over 170 million products. This move by Amazon India can help them compete with its biggest rival in the Indian e-market, the Flipkart, especially after the latter’ s world-record deal with Walmart last month.
12 Apparel Online India | JULY 1-15, 2018 | www. apparelresources. com